


Homecoming

by SaraJaye



Category: Now and Then (1995)
Genre: F/F, Falling In Love, First Kiss, Housewarming, Reflection, Wine, hindsight
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-08
Updated: 2020-04-08
Packaged: 2021-03-02 04:54:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 613
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23549485
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SaraJaye/pseuds/SaraJaye
Summary: Sometimes, things happen in life, and you can't control them. Sometimes, you don't want to.
Relationships: Samantha Albertson/Tina Tercell
Comments: 1
Kudos: 3





	Homecoming

Things happen in life, and you can't control them. She held Crazy Pete's words close to her heart for over a decade, but they never sank in. Her parents' divorce, growing apart from her friends, her grandmother's death, a string of failed relationships because she kept running away.

She couldn't run away from the promise they'd made, and seeing Teeny again made her regret ever leaving in the first place. Watching her rise to the top, seeing her on magazine covers, remembering when the gorgeous bombshell was a pretty girl who stuffed her bra with pudding balloons and snuck onto the roof to watch drive-in movies for free. The girl who held her in her arms and gave her half her string of love beads while she cried over Dad leaving.

_Why did I ever let you go?_

Two months after the reunion, Teeny's latest movie wraps up production and Samantha's moved into an apartment just outside the Gaslight Addition. She invites Teeny to spend the night with her before she goes back to LA.

"Nice place," Teeny murmurs as she surveys the living room. It's nothing too fancy, not the studio apartment Samantha always dreamed of, but it's no hole in the wall. Against her better judgment she let Chrissy help with the decorations, and she hates to admit the flowery pastel curtains and pink light bulbs are kind of soothing.

"You want something to drink? Coffee, tea, wine?" The bottle of white is a housewarming gift from Mom and Bud, along with a basket of fancy soaps she doesn't use.

"Wine sounds good." Teeny makes herself comfortable on the sofa, and for a moment Samantha is awestruck at how well she fits in with the living room's general feel. Her off-white sweater, gold miniskirt, shiny beige heels, perfect complexion accented by the deep red of her lips.

_Was she always this gorgeous?_

She snaps out of her trance and pours two glasses of wine. She doesn't drink, her vice was always cigarettes and now that she's almost completely off them she doesn't want to risk another addiction. But the occasional glass of wine is no big deal, and having Teeny here is reason enough to pop open the bottle.

They slip into small talk easily enough. As much as Samantha loves Chrissy and Roberta, it's been too long since she's had a moment alone with Teeny like this. Such moments were few and far between after that summer, and none of them as poignant as that night in the treehouse.

Teeny had always been there. While Chrissy struggled to break away from her mother's smothering and Roberta discovered boys, Samantha and Teeny managed to hold it together until they went off to different colleges. Samantha had expected awkwardness, but right now, it was as though Teeny had never left.

"If you want the truth," Teeny says at length, "I think the real reason my marriages never worked was because none of them were you." Samantha blinks, setting her glass down.

"Teeny?"

"I'm not even sure if this counts as coming out, but...Sam, you were always my favorite, and one of the only regrets I've ever had was-"

"Stop." Samantha swallows, tears prickling at her eyes. "Don't read my mind. It's creepy." And Teeny's putting down her own glass and grasping her hands, pulling her close. "Teeny-"

"Seeing you again for the first time was the highlight of my life," Teeny whispers. "And I wonder if maybe..."

"If maybe I was always a little in love with you?" Sam smiles tearfully, and Teeny snickers.

"Now who's being a creepy mind-reader?" Their gazes lock, their lips come together, and everything feels right.


End file.
